Combating Drug Resistance

As dangerous microbes grow more resilient, new approaches are needed to thwart life-threatening infections.

A century ago, infectious diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis were among the top causes of death in the United States. However, the discovery of the antibiotic penicillin in 1928, along with other biomedical innovations and improvements in sanitation, have led to an incredible drop in the frequency and severity of these illnesses. Now, the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria threatens to reverse this progress, as drug-resistant infections cause more than two million illnesses and 23,000 deaths in the United States every year.

The IRP is uniquely situated to make progress towards expanding the supply of effective antibiotic treatments due to the long-term, stable funding required by this high-risk, high-reward research. Our scientists are currently working towards that goal by:

Expanding our understanding of the bacterial immune system and the means by which organisms develop antibiotic resistance

Using whole-genome sequencing to track the spread of drug-resistant microbes through populations